1. About the OMCT

The World Organisation Against Torture (Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture – OMCT in the French acronym), founded in 1985, works through its SOS-Torture Network of 200 member organisations in more than 90 countries. Together, we form the largest global coalition actively standing against torture and all forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The vision of the OMCT is a world free from torture and other ill-treatment where the human dignity prevails, and its mission to lead, strengthen and protect the global movement to eradicate torture, which encompasses the protection of human rights defenders (HRDs).

2. Context and Project Background

The HRD Programme

In June 2025, the OMCT General Assembly approved the organisation's new strategy for 2025-2029, which outlines OMCT’s theory of change and movement approach for the years to come, with the identification of four strategic goals. Strategic Goal 3 focuses on “Defending the Right to Defend” and seeks to establish the organisation’s strategy to ensure that human rights defenders can pursue their vital work defending rights and fundamental freedoms without fear of reprisals, in open civic spaces that are essential for promoting democracy and the rule of law.

The programme aims to contribute to the work of HRDs as catalysts for the defence of human rights and democracy. This objective will be achieved through the programme’s long-term outcome: securing measurable progress in ensuring the freedom, protection and democratic resilience of HRD organisations operating in authoritarian environments, so that they can pursue their work safely and effectively.

This outcome will be achieved through the implementation of three pillars aligned with the programme’s objectives:

Pillar 1 – Protecting HRDs. A global protection and early warning system for HRDs targeting both individual risks faced by HRDs and threats to their operating environment through protection, security and advocacy support. Protection measures include psychosocial and legal support, digital and personal security, relocation, and advocacy.

Pillar 2 – Freedom for HRDs (SOS Defenders). This pillar supports HRDs facing legal persecution, arbitrary detention and abusive judicial proceedings through a global system for documenting cases and mobilising support for HRDs in detention. It includes the provision of legal support and advocacy campaigns aimed at defending HRDs and securing their release so they can continue their work despite systemic repression.

Pillar 3 – Democracy HRDs. This pillar supports CSOs in leading transformative change by amplifying their voices and strengthening their advocacy in contexts marked by authoritarianism. It builds on the added value of the global network to facilitate experience-sharing and mutual learning, enabling organisations to be better positioned to resist authoritarian trends.

The programme contributes to a variety of HRD-related causes linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG indicator 16.1.3, and through its focus on detained and tortured defenders, will also contribute baseline information related to indicator 16.10.1.

Finland has been supporting the OMCT since 2019, and since 2025 is specifically supporting its HRD programme. In February 2026, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland published a Review of Finland Support to Human Rights INGOs.

For more than 25 years, the OMCT’s HRD Programme has worked to protect individuals against arbitrary detention. Through this work, OMCT identified a particular expertise in securing the release of detained HRDs, while also recognising three interrelated needs:

• The need for a centralised global clearing house of information on HRDs deprived of their liberty;
• The need for more strategic, sustained, and coordinated advocacy for the release of detained HRDs, including those in rural areas and less-connected regions, and in countries most at risk;
• The need for stronger protection against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment for HRDs while they are deprived of their liberty.

This led, in 2023, to the creation of a global initiative (SOS-Defenders) aimed at providing a network-based system for the support and protection of human rights defenders in detention.

The first phase of SOS-Defenders (2022–2025), funded by Misereor, together with the Finnish MFA, the Canton of Geneva and the Swiss DFAE, sought to respond to these challenges. Implemented together with Network Members, the initiative was designed as a bottom-up, cross-regional and network-based mechanism aimed at protecting the integrity and due process rights of detained HRDs and increasing both the scale and effectiveness of advocacy efforts for their release.

In December 2024, the initiative was officially launched. The overall objective identified for SOS-Defenders is to strengthen the protection of HRDs through a global system for monitoring arbitrary detention, advocating for the release of HRDs, and protecting HRDs from torture and ill-treatment in detention.

The specific objectives are the following:

• Specific Objective 1: A global, centralized and comprehensive clearing house and action platform on detention of HRDs worldwide is established and used to inform authoritative reports and campaigns.
• Specific Objective 2: Increased success each year toward freeing HRDs from detention, through dismissal of charges, suspension of proceedings, and ultimately release from detention.
• Specific Objective 3: Increased protection against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment for HRDs in detention

The initiative has since been integrated into, and continues under, the 2025–2027 HRD Programme funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and other donors.

3. Objective and Scope of the Evaluation

The Finland MFA-funded project incorporates external evaluation as a key element of its monitoring, evaluation and learning framework. The evaluation will therefore respond to its requirements and will also serve the learning needs of the OMCT.

The evaluation is initiated by the OMCT, with oversight provided by the Director of the HRD Programme, the Human Rights Adviser in charge of the SOS-Defenders project and the OMCT Impact Orientation Adviser.

Scope

The evaluation will cover the OMCT HRD Programme, which is global in nature, since 2025 with special focus to its implementation and performance under the Finland MFA grant (2025–2027), the OMCT response in specific crisis countries financed by the grant, and the SOS-Defenders project, set within the broader context of the HRD programme.

Objectives of the Evaluation

The OMCT adopts a learning-oriented approach to evaluation. The primary purpose of this evaluation is to generate evidence and recommendations that can inform future programming and strategic decision-making. The evaluation also serves as an accountability mechanism.

The evaluators are expected to assess the programme against the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria. In addition, the evaluation should address cross-cutting issues such as gender and adherence to the Do No Harm principle. The consultant will develop and finalise specific and complementary evaluation questions with the support of designated focal points at OMCT.

Specifically, the evaluation is expected to:

• Assess the performance of the HRD Programme against its objectives, outputs and outcomes, taking into account the evolving context of its implementation, with a specific focus on the response in specific crisis countries;
• Assess the performance of the SOS-Defenders project against its objectives, outputs and outcomes, taking into account the evolving context of its implementation;
• Provide an objective assessment of the relevance and impact of the HRD Programme from the perspective of the target groups;
• Provide an objective assessment of the relevance and impact of the SOS-Defenders initiative from the perspective of the target groups;
• Examine the effectiveness and distinctiveness of OMCT's approach to work on defending the right to defend;
• Identify potential unintended results and external factors that may have influenced implementation of the SOS-Defenders project and the wider HRD Programme;
• Identify lessons learnt and provide clear, concise, actionable recommendations for future projects and programme phases.

In line with this, the following indicative questions may also be addressed by the evaluation:

Relevance

• To what extent are the programme’s specific objectives responsive to the actual protection needs of the target groups?
• How relevant is the SOS Defenders initiative in the current global context of closing civic space and the broader HRD protection landscape?

Coherence

• How well do the pillars of the HRD Programme reinforce one another?
• How does the SOS-Defenders initiative complement, coordinate with, and avoid duplication of other HRD protection mechanisms and actors at the international and regional levels; and how does it interact with existing databases and information systems maintained by partners?

Effectiveness

• To what extent have the specific objectives of the HRD programme and the SOS-Defenders initiative been achieved?
• How effective have coordinated advocacy and urgent interventions been in securing the release of HRDs from detention?
• Are the project objectives realistic? Are the targets appropriately set?

Efficiency

• Was the project implemented in a cost-effective manner and with good stewardship of resources?
• Were activities and outputs delivered in a timely manner?

Effects (Outcomes and Impact)

• What has changed for local civil society organisations and HRD networks supported by the programme?
• What has changed for HRDs in detention as a result of SOS-Defenders?
• Which external factors have contributed to or hindered the achievement of outcomes?
• Were there significant unintended effects?

Sustainability

• What are the prospects for continued donor engagement and financial sustainability for the HRD Programme?
• To what extent has the programme strengthened the capacity and resilience of OMCT's network members and partners to independently monitor and advocate for detained HRDs?
• To what extent are the SOS-Defenders platform and database likely to be sustainable beyond the current funding period?

4. Methodology

The evaluation should adopt a clear methodological approach, specifying the overall design and techniques for data collection and analysis, which will include triangulation of data sources and methods to ensure accuracy and credibility of findings, a participatory approach that includes HRDs and partner organisations and an intersectional lens.

It is expected to include:

• A desk review of project documents, plans and reports, and other relevant materials;
• Key informant interviews with staff from OMCT implementing the programme, network members and other partners, victims, and beneficiaries of the project activities, as well as relevant external actors;
• Analysis of performance toward project outputs and outcomes in relation to programme objectives and country / political / social contexts.

5. Timeframe, Logistics and Deliverables

The evaluation is expected to be conducted over an estimated 30 working days, between 1 August, 2026 and 31 October, 2026.

The desk review and most key informant interviews may be conducted remotely, with a field mission to one of the focus countries, which will be agreed upon with the OMCT during the inception phase. In-person data collection may be necessary for interviews with certain HRDs and OMCT network members.

OMCT will provide logistical support, introductions to key contacts, and access to internal documentation.

Deliverables

• Inception report (max. 10 pages, excluding annexes), including the evaluators' interpretation of the evaluation scope and questions, proposed methodology, and data collection plan.
• Draft evaluation report (max. 30 pages excluding annexes, but including a standalone section dedicated to SOS-Defenders covering its design, implementation, achievements, and challenges, and assessing its relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, effects and sustainability, as well as providing specific recommendations): submitted to OMCT for review, with structured findings for each OECD-DAC criterion and cross-cutting themes.
• Final evaluation report ( 30 pages, excluding annexes, but including a standalone section dedicated to SOS-Defenders covering its design, implementation, achievements, and challenges, and assessing its relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, effects and sustainability, as well as providing specific recommendations) incorporating / addressing OMCT's comments and corrections, and including recommendations, submitted no later than 31 October, 2026.
• Executive summary (max. 5 pages) and Power Point presentation summarising the findings submitted no later than 31 October, 2026.
• Debriefing workshop.

The evaluation may include additional elements and approaches as appropriate

6. Requirements and Qualifications

Consultants or consultancy teams with the following profile are encouraged to submit a bid:

• Post-graduate degree in a relevant discipline (social sciences, law, international relations, development studies, human rights, or related fields).
• At least 7 years of international experience in project evaluation, preferably with demonstrable experience evaluating human rights and/or social justice programmes, civil society strengthening initiatives, or HRD protection work.
• Knowledge of the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria and experience applying them in complex programme settings.
• Strong qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis skills, including experience conducting interviews and focus groups in sensitive human rights contexts.
• Demonstrable understanding of the architecture of international human rights and civil society organisations and civil society networks.
• Understanding of gender and intersectionality as applied to HRD protection.
• Fluency in English is required for reporting and communication with OMCT. Given that key partners and beneficiaries work in Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic, consultants or consultancy teams are expected to present a plan for how they will conduct interviews and obtain feedback from partners and HRDs who do not speak English. Fluency in one or more of these languages is an asset but is not required.

7. Application Process

Bids should be submitted by email to applications@omct.org with the subject line "OMCT Evaluation Consultancy – Standing Together / HRD Programme", with the following attachments in PDF:

• A Letter of Interest summarising the bid (max. 1 page)
• A Bid for Contract detailing the proposed methodology, evaluation approach, timeframe, and fee breakdown (max. 4 pages)
• For individuals: a CV with a list of relevant evaluations completed and at least two professional references (max. 2 pages)
• For firms or teams: a list of relevant evaluations completed in the past three years, with references (max. 2 pages) and CVs of the proposed team members

Competitive bids will be invited for an interview. The OMCT reserves the right to request clarifications and negotiate the scope and fee before awarding the contract. We thank all applicants for their interest.

Applications will be accepted until 06 July, 2026. The total amount available for the evaluation is capped at EUR 19,000, but competitive bids will be given important consideration during the selection process.